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CAIRO, April 29 (UPI) -- Egypt's ruling military council will form a new government after the lower House of Parliament suspended its session.

Field Marshal Husein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, said the formation of the new government was imminent, state media reported Sunday.

CNN said the announcement came after the speaker of the Parliament's lower House said the session would be suspended for a week in protest over the council's refusal to dismiss the current civilian government headed by Kamal Ganzouri, who was prime minister under deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

Ganzouri remained in power even after the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, gained the majority of seats in the recent parliamentary election. Speaker Saad el-Katatni represents the Freedom and Justice Party.

It was not clear Sunday if the Freedom and Justice Party would be part of the new government.

The announcement came a day after a high-profile reform leader announced the formation of a new political party aimed specifically at paving the way for the military to hand over power to civilians.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the Constitution Party would help preserve the gains of the recent revolution. He said political paralysis and questions about the legitimacy of the military council had plunged Egypt into a "lawless" state.

Ahram Online said ElBaradei was among several founding members, which included activists, legal experts and government officials.

20 dead in Nigerian church bombing

KANO, Nigeria, April 29 (UPI) -- Alleged Muslim radicals opened fire on people attempting to flee a Nigerian church after it was bombed Sunday, killing 20, officials said.

As many as three bombs fashioned from soda cans went off in the old campus section of Bayero University, Kano, in the area where Christian students hold worship services on Sundays, This Day reported. One person died in the bombing and many others were injured.

As worshipers attempted to leave the bombed building, assailants waiting outside opened fire, killing another 19 people, The Guardian reported.

"I was inside and we were preparing for a prayer when there was the sound of motorbikes driving fast and then the first explosion," said one student, who gave her name only as Grace.

"Everything then happened very fast. There were more bombs, I think, and so many gunshots, there was too much noise and people were panicking."

Though no group has come forward claiming responsibility for the attack, the use of motorcycles, small improvised explosives and targeted gunfire bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, known al Qaida-linked insurgents, The Guardian reported. The group was responsible for a similar attack at in Abuja on Christmas Day that killed 44 people.

The attack comes three days after two office buildings in Abuja and Kaduna belonging to This Day newspapers were attacked by suicide bombers, resulting in six deaths.

Police said the two vehicles -- a Sonauli-bound state roadways bus and a private bus -- fell into a ditch near Maniram Bridge after colliding, the Press Trust of India reported.

Fifteen people died at the scene of the crash and another five died at BRD Medical College Hospital. At least a dozen people are in critical condition at the hospital, officials said.

Van falls 100 feet from overpass, 7 dead

NEW YORK, April 29 (UPI) -- Investigators said Sunday they weren't sure why a van drove off an elevated highway in New York City, killing seven people.

Three children were among those who died when the van went off the Bronx River Parkway Sunday afternoon and fell about 100 feet on to a railway yard near the Bronx Zoo.

Police said the vehicle somehow went out of control and struck the median. It then crossed all southbound lanes and crashed through the guardrail.

No one on the ground was injured, WNBC-TV in New York said.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz issued a statement Sunday saying he wanted to discuss the overall safety of the parkway with the appropriate agencies. WNBC said two people were injured in a similar accident in the same area last summer.

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